


Leading A Heart Home

by RikuKingdomHearts3



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Brotherly Bonding, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Riku Replica Lives, Riku and Repliku like brothers, Self-Discovery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:35:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22354957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RikuKingdomHearts3/pseuds/RikuKingdomHearts3
Summary: Riku had watched his original replica seemingly fade away, but was that really his end? Riku had a feeling it wasn't, and this time he was going to do something about it. In hopes that his original replica still is out there, Riku makes his way once more to the Realm of Darkness. His goal in mind; to find his original replica and give him a chance to live his own life.
Relationships: Naminé/Riku Replica (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while since i gave another crossposted story from my FF account. So here is one I started back in February of last year. With Re:Mind coming soon I thought now would be a good time for it.

Riku stood on the shores of Destiny Islands. The waves slowly washed up and nearly touched the tips of Riku's shoes. Riku closed his eyes and he took in a long deep breath. He thought being home and watching the sunset would relax him, but nothing seemed to be helping.

The events that had just transpired a few short days ago still loomed in his head. Though many things were going through his mind, there was one thing of many that stuck out more.

The Replica of himself. The first Replica of him.

" _No. The world already has you."_

Those words still lingered in his mind. Echoing as loud as when he first had heard them. He couldn't stop thinking about them either. The way he had said it with a calm and relaxed smile… it pained Riku's heart. He knew his replica was doing it for a good reason. Because of what his replica did, Naminé was able to have a body. She was soon going to be able to live her own life, all because of a replica who cared for her, but it was at the cost of his own life.

" _After everything he's been through, everything he's done, he was given a chance at life, and yet he turned it down for her, for Naminé. I know he was doing it for her, but did it really have to end that way? Couldn't there have been something else we could have done? I was granted a second chance, so why shouldn't the other me?"_

Exhaling slowly Riku closed his eyes and let the thoughts sink in even further. He knew there could have been something he could have done. He could have found a way to have also saved his replica. But if he was gone… there wouldn't be anything more he could do.

But Riku wasn't about to give up. He opened his eyes again, now with a sense of determination. " _He has to be out there. I can… feel it. The other me...or really both of them… they are still out there. It may be just a hunch… but I think I know where they could be."_

That little feeling was all Riku needed. He knew what he needed to do now. He would go out to find his replica and save him. Though he still wondered about the second one, the second replica of him that was part of the Organization. He wasn't too sure about him still. He knew that it was a replica made from when Ansem possessed him, so the chances of also saving him felt less likely. But there was still the need to try.

* * *

"Are you sure Riku?" Mickey asked Riku after he had explained his plan. "It still can be dangerous to go back into the Realm of Darkness."

"I know, but I have to do this. I have to see. If the other me is still out there and still holding on, then I want to do something to save him," Riku replied, speaking in a serious tone. "And that's why I need your help, because your keyblade is how I can get back there."

"All right Riku," Mickey said with a nod. "I'll help you, but I'm also going with you. You can't go alone for something like this."

"I know. I was going to ask you to come along anyways," Riku replied as he smiled at his friend.

The two of them then headed off to start another journey back into the Realm of Darkness. Riku felt a slight bit of uncertainty though as they walked. After the last conversation he had with his replica… how was he going to get him to come back? He had seemed at peace with the choice he had made. He willingly chose not to have a body and to seemingly fade away.

The small, but meaningful smile he had given before fading way flashed up in Riku's mind again. That selfless smile was proof enough that he deserved better. He deserved far better to just fade away entirely and only be a memory.

* * *

Riku and Mickey had finally entered the Realm of Darkness and began their search around the place. Riku didn't say a word since they had entered and only focused on looking where he was going.

"So Riku… Do you even know where to look?" Mickey asked as he tried to keep pace with Riku.

"No. Not exactly," Riku said. "But I have a feeling where to look."

There was one particular spot in mind where Riku thought he should go. He kept walking forward as he headed in the direction of the beach with the sea of darkness. That was the place he had a feeling he should look. That was the place where he first ended up meeting his replica again.

They walked a bit further until they could see the glistening dark shores ahead of them. But that wasn't the only thing they saw. Even though they were a short distance away they could see that there was something at the edge of the beach. Two somethings to be accurate.

One had a glow of light surrounding them and the other had darkness around them. Without having to look a second time Riku took off running, leaving Mickey behind.

"Riku! Wait up!" Mickey said as he started to run after Riku.

Riku got closer to the shoreline and it was in fact who he thought it was. It was both of the replicas of him. They were locked in an intense gaze as the original replica gripped the wrists of the darker one. The dark replica seemed to be trying to get away, but was struggling. Riku also saw as he got closer, both of the replicas looked fainter than he last saw them.

It seemed they were near their end. Sooner or later they would fade away and that would be it. Riku wasn't about to let that happen though.

"Hey!" he shouted as he neared them.

Both of the replicas stopped their struggle and turned to see Riku. Wide eyes appeared on the original replica, showing he was clearing surprised to see Riku back here again. The dark replica on the other hand narrowed his eyes, in a hateful or cold way.

"What are you doing here?" the original replica asked him. "You need to stay back!"

The dark replica let out a grunt as he tried to pull away from the originals hold, but he still held on tightly. Riku wasn't sure how much had happened, but he figured that his original was trying to contain and stop the darker one from getting away. Even after the darker one lost the body he had and was cast into the darkness, he didn't seem any different than he was before.

"I came here to help though," Riku replied as he took a step forward. He wasn't sure if he would have to help fight the dark replica of himself, but he was going to be prepared for anything.

"I don't need any help," the original said as he turned to look at his dark self. "We are both going to fade away soon enough."

The darker replica gritted his teeth as the darkness loomed around him. "Shut up already about that! Let go of me already!"

Even though both of the replicas seemed to be holding on, Riku could now see that they were looking exhausted. Slowly they were fading away more and more. It seemed that all of their remaining energy was being used to fight one another.

Riku took a few steps closer, keeping a serious gaze across his face. He walked up all the way until he stood next to the original replica. "You don't have to do this."

The original sighed slightly. "It's not like I have much of a choice."

"There can always be a choice. There is always something we can do," Riku replied, not ready to give up that easily.

A burst of darkness came from the side knocking Riku back. As soon as Riku hit the ground he looked up to see the dark replica glaring with rage. Slowly Riku stood back up and saw that the original was now at his side.

"I'm not going to fade away! I… don't… I won't let that happen!" the dark replica shouting in desperation.

Riku frowned slightly at the sight. He did actually feel bad for the second replica of himself. Even though he knew it wasn't actually himself… it still was his voice. And to hear his own voice shouting about not fading away brought a heavy feeling inside of him. But he also knew that this replica was from a time that he was not proud of. That was a time he never would forget, but he had moved forward from at least.

"Just give it up," the original said, speaking to the darker one. "You know there isn't anything else you can do now."

"No! T-There has to be! I'm _**not**_ going to fade away! All I need is a body…" the dark replica said as he turned to look at Riku. A cruel smile danced across his face. "And what a convenience that there is one right here!" Immediately without another word he started to fly right at Riku.

Riku gasped as he quickly summoned his keyblade to hold in defense, but he wasn't sure it was going to be enough. There was only a short distance between the two of them and he didn't have enough time to react.

But just as it seemed the dark replica was going to get to his a flash of light shone in front of him, clashing with the darkness from the second replica. Riku squinted for a moment, but he could clearly see that the original replica was now standing in front of him. He was protecting him.

The original yelled as he pushed the dark one back. Light and darkness still pushing against one another from the two of them. But the energy of both sides was slowly losing strength. But the original gave one last yell and a final bright flash sent the dark replica to the ground. The darkness around him faded to practically nothing and his body was hardly visible anymore.

The dark replica tried to push himself up to his feet, but it seemed that he had expelled the last of his energy in that final attack. His hands shook slightly as he closed his eyes for a moment. A mix of emotions flew over his face within a matter of seconds. A look of sadness was first, but then followed by anger and perhaps a bit of frustration.

Riku apporoched and looked down at him with sorrow. Despite everything that had happened, he still ended up feeling bad for this replica. "I'm sorry…" He thought to say more, but those were the only words he could muster.

The dark replica scoffed. "Sure you are…" He muttered his words quietly under his breath, but Riku could still hear what he was saying. "I… I wish I was the real one…"

All of the darkness finally dissipated from the dark replica and he finally faded away in the second second. Riku could only stand there for the time, staring at the spot where the dark replica had just been. But then a heavy sigh drew his attention elsewhere. He looked over and saw the original replica sitting on the ground, taking in deep and heavy breath. He looked far more exhausted now than before.

Riku walked over to him and sat down beside him. "Please. Please come back with me. We can do something to help you."

The replica only shook his head though. "No. I don't see the point. Why should I get another body? I have no reason to do so."

"Everyone should get a second chance to live their lives," Riku replied.

The replica chuckled weakly. "I never had much of a life to begin with, remember?"

"Well you can now have that chance to make your life what you want," Riku said. He knew it would be difficult to convince his replica, so he never once let the determination leave him. He had to keep trying.

"What life can I live when I am a replica that looks just like you?" the replica asked as he looked at Riku.

Riku thought for a moment before finding his answer. "Roxas and Ventus look alike you know, but they both live their lives different and as their own."

"It's not the same. They actually are two different people. I am just a replica of you," the replica replied stubbornly with a sigh.

"Look. Roxas, Xion, and Namine all get to have their own bodies, and now they can live their own lives. If they get that chance then you should as well." Riku then thought of another thing to add. Since Xion had been brought back, all of his memories of her had returned. So he decided to add one extra thing. "Xion is also a replica if you didn't know."

"Yeah yeah… but they are still different than me. The thing is with me, no one would care about me being back. Those other three… they all had people who wanted to see them again. No one _wants_ me back," the replica said as he looked away.

"That's not true about you."

The replica didn't bother to look back at Riku. Instead he placed his arms to rest on his knees. "Oh really?" he asked, but there was no real questioning tone in his voice.

"I would want to see you back," Riku started to say. "You know… I was surprised to see you back at first. But when I did and we talked for a bit, I found myself glad. I'm glad to see the resolve you have gone through since the time in Castle Oblivion. Look at that light that surrounds you. Your heart has grown a lot. And to me, that shows that you are your own person and can live how you want to live."

"Heh… I figured you would say something like that. Such a corny thing to say. Though all that positive encouragement… it might just be working," the replica said as he looked at Riku again.

Riku smiled, finally feeling like he was getting somewhere. He just needed to give the replica a little more incentive. "Besides, I know that Naminé would want to thank the one responsible for giving her a chance to have her own body."

The replica tensed up slightly as he turned his head away. Riku couldn't tell obviously, but he was sure the replica may have been blushing at the thought of her. A moment of silence passed before the replica let out one last sigh and turned to look at Riku.

He sighed once more, though now there was a smile upon his face. He took in a deep breath before speaking up again. "Fine, I'll go with you."

With that Riku let him into his heart to rest for the time being. That way he knew the replica would be safe and he wouldn't fade away anymore. But now there was only one last thing to do and that was to make sure his replica would get a body.

* * *

"Do you think it is possible to create another vessel?" Riku asked Even.

As soon as Riku and Mickey left the Realm of Darkness, the first stop of course was Radiant Garden. Even, Ienzo and Ansem the Wise were still in the process of finalizing Naminé's body, but they were close to finishing. Riku showed up though and explained his story to them all.

"It is extremely possible. After getting the shells to use for Roxas and Naminé, I made sure to keep the data for making replicas stored away safely. Just in case there was ever a future need for something like that. So for your request, yes I can. Especially if it is for the replica that was the very first successful one."

Riku nodded respectfully. "Thank you."

"It will only take me a couple of days to create the shell though, probably about the time it will take to finish up finalizing everything for Naminé. It won't take nearly as long though to fix up everything though for your replica, as he is a replica and not a Nobody. So all you need to do is return by then and we can get the rest finished then. Ienzo will call when we need you back here."

Riku thanked Even once more before heading out to go back home for the time being. Though there was one more stop he had to make before going home to rest. He stopped by Yen Sid's tower and asked a request if the good fairies could make an outfit for his replica. He knew that his replica couldn't keep on just wearing the dark outfit. Just as he deserved his own body, he also deserved his own clothes.

* * *

The couple of days had passed and sure enough Riku got the call from Iezno. The vessel was ready for his replica to use. Though it was already the day of the beach party and almost everyone was there. Naminé was also there as Riku had just brought her along with several others just a few hours before. They were still waiting on Aqua, Terra, and Ventus though, knowing they probably needed a bit more time together before coming to a party.

Riku excused himself from the party that was just starting up and headed off. He made his way back to Radiant Garden in the gummi ship and headed to where Even and the others were. He walked down the hall to the area, carrying a suitcase with the new clothes in them. He hadn't seen them yet, but he figured they were probably in a similar style to how everyone else's had looked.

Once he entered the room where the three scientists were, he saw the empty vessel resting on the examination table. Riku walked over to it and looked down at the blank shell. Soon enough the replica would have his own body.

Riku closed his eyes as he thought to the replica that still was resting within him. He called to him and told him that it was time. A moment later he appeared next to Riku, and stared at the empty shell before him. He didn't move from his spot though. A look of hesitation filled his face as he didn't once look away from the shell.

Riku smiled as he looked up at his replica. "Go on. I told you before that you deserve this."

The replica slowly nodded before going to inhabit the shell. Right after that Even and the others did some short extra things to make sure everything was set and finalized. They tried to explain what they were doing, but all of it was a far higher science than Riku really understood.

But now the shell no longer was blank, now it had the appearance of a younger Riku. Riku couldn't help but smile again as he saw the replica slowly opened his eyes, revealing their matching teal color.

Once the replica could sit up and move around, and felt fully adjusted to his new body he got off the table and walked over to Riku. Riku then handed him the suitcase and he took hold of it.

"Did you really have to go and get me a new outfit?" the replica asked as he looked down at the case.

"Well I assume you didn't want to keep going around wearing that old outfit." Riku asked as he gestured to the dark outfit that the replica still wore. "With a new body and second chance at a life, wouldn't it be better to have something new?"

A small chuckle came from the replica. "You have a point there."

The replica then went to change into his new outfit before they would head back. He came back a few minutes later dressed in his new outfit. It had some resemblance to Riku's outfit, but there were several differences.

The white undershirt was not a v-neck like Riku's, but a basic curved collar. While it looked like the jacket was styled the same, the replica's jacket was a dark blue color with red outlines. The sleeves of the replica's jacket also reached down to just above his elbows and a red board went around the edge of the sleeves. His pants were black and reached a little past his knees. There was though the same checked pattern at the bottom of the pants, just like Riku's. His shoes were not as long as Riku's were, but seemed to be in a similar style. The last thing the replica had was gloves, they were fingerless black gloves, but with a red trim, and they only reached a little past his wrist.

"Those good fairies really like to design rather odd outfits don't they," the replica commented as he looked over his new outfit. "I don't mind it though. It's rather cool."

"Come on then, let's go," Riku said as he waved for the replica to follow him.

Before leaving they went to thank Even, Ienzo and Ansem the Wise once more. Even of course expressed a joyous moment of seeing his first successful replica still around. He wanted to be able to ask him questions, but Riku stopped him and said it would probably be best for another time.

The two of them then headed off to where Riku had left the gummi ship. As they walked Riku spoke up. "Let's hurry back. Aqua, Terra and Ventus should be at Destiny Islands by now, and then the party can really begin."

The replica didn't reply back, but he kept walking along Riku. Though as they approached the gummi ship he started to slow down and came to a stop. Riku turned around and saw him staring at the ground.

"Something wrong?" he asked as he walked back over to his replica.

"I just… I just don't really know. I didn't expect this to happen," he said as he looked up at Riku. "What am I supposed to do now? I don't really have anywhere to live or anything. I still don't know what I am going to do with my life."

"You'll just have to listen to your heart and figure that part out," Riku replied as he smiled.

"What a cliche thing to say," the replica said jokingly with a scoff. "But I would expect that from you nowadays."

"Well if you really need somewhere to stay, you could stay with me," Riku said as he paused for a moment to gather the rest of his thoughts. He chuckled. "It will be like having a younger brother."

The replica rolled his eyes, though a smile appeared on his face. "Yeah a younger brother who looks and sounds exactly like you, because he is you in every way."

Riku's smile turned into a smug smirk as he bent down slightly at eye level with his replica. "Well almost every way. I am older and taller than you now." He then placed a hand on top of the replica's head and ruffled his hair.

The replica huffed in annoyance as he brushed Riku's hand away. "If I had known this is what I was going to have to put up with I wouldn't have agreed to this." It almost sounded like he was serious, but Riku could easily tell that he was only joking around and wasn't truly bothered by it.

A second later the replica continued. "I guess though… it wouldn't be so bad to be brothers then. But how would you explain me to your parents then?"

Riku rubbed the back of his neck, as he had actually forgotten about that part of all of this. He smiled sheepishly. "Heh… I don't know yet, but I know we will find a way."

* * *

Soon Riku was piloting the gummi ship back towards Destiny Islands. The replica sat in one of the other seats as he stared out the window at the galaxy around them. It was mostly quiet between them, but then the replica spoke up once again,

"There is something else you forgot."

"And what would that be?" Riku asked, wondering what he would say.

"My name. I can't be called Other Riku or Replica Riku. I wouldn't want that. It would kind of defeat the whole purpose of your speech of me being my own person."

"Well then why don't you pick a name? A new name to start off a new life."

"I don't know though. I would want a new name… but having a completely different name just would feel a bit weird."

"Well how about a name then that is similar to mine, but is not the same?" Riku suggested.

"Do you have any ideas then?" the replica asked.

"Hmm…" Riku hummed as he pondered over the idea. He started to think of names that were similar to his, thinking what his replica would find to be good. Suddenly he had an idea for a name. "How about Ryuu? It isn't my name, but it is kind of close to it."

"Ryuu?" the replica questioned. He then closed his eyes as he started to think it over. A moment later a smile came across his face. "I like it."

"Well then Ryuu," Riku said with a small laugh. "I'm glad you figured that out."

"Thank you… Riku," the replica, now known as Ryuu replied.

Riku almost felt a little surprised. He never actually heard his replica call him by his name before. But maybe now that they had different names it was easier. Riku smiled again as he saw that they were approaching Destiny Islands.

"Well we're here. Let's get ready to head down there," Riku said as he set the controls to head on down.

Ryuu followed behind him as they headed to the area to be transported down onto the world. Just as they were ready to head down, it seemed that Ryuu had one more thing he wanted to ask.

"Are you sure they'll all accept me?"

Riku nodded as he placed a hand on Ryuu's shoulder. He gave him a smile before speaking. "Of course they will."

The two of them then exited the gummi ship and arrived down on the world. Everyone was already there on the beach talking with one another when they saw Riku coming along with Ryuu. As soon as they two got close to the group, Riku stepped forward and cleared his throat.

"Over a year ago a replica had been made of me. Since then he had come a long way and now has the chance to live his own life. Not as a replica of me anymore, but…" Riku trailed off, hoping for Ryuu to step in to say something.

Ryuu stepped forward and waved slightly at everyone. "I may be technically a replica of Riku, but now that doesn't matter. My name is Ryuu now and I am my own person."

Everyone smiled back at Ryuu before saying hello and greeting him. Soon enough everyone went back to starting up the party and laughs and chatter were heard all around. Riku was about to go join the others when he saw that Ryuu was still standing in place. He looked to where Ryuu was looking and saw he was staring at Naminé. She only stood a few feet away from him, but she stared right back with wide eyes. Slowly the two of them walked closer together until they were only a few inches apart.

Naminé smiled at him. "Ryuu. I like that."

"Y-You do?" Ryuu asked, feeling a slight bit flustered.

Naminé nodded as she reached forward and held one of his hands. "Riku told me about what you did. How you sacrificed yourself to make sure I could get a body."

"Yeah… I wanted you to be able to live a happy life."

"Thank you," Naminé replied as she continued to smile.

Ryuu smiled back as he reached out to hold Naminé's other hand. "You're welcome Naminé."

Naminé leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Ryuu, giving him a gentle hug. Ryuu felt a strong feeling of happiness as he turned a hug back. He hadn't felt this happy… well since ever.

Riku watched the two with a big smile. He was happy that Ryuu got to see Namine again and everything seemed to be fine. Riku almost had the thought of teasing Ryuu a little, considering the fact they agreed to be a brother, but he was pulled away from those thoughts as Roxas and Terra asked to race him. He turned and left to join then, leaving Ryuu to spend time with Namine, and do whatever he would choose to do.

Ryuu spent the rest of the party hanging around with everyone actually. He did spend a lot of time talking with Naminé, but he also started talking with others as well. He even joined in the frisbee game with Ventus, Isa, and Lea. He laughed and enjoyed every moment of everything.

Every moment he spent doing something he wanted, the happier he felt. This was a feeling he never really experienced before. Doing what he wanted and feeling enjoyment from it. This was the first time he had truly felt happy. It was his choice what he did and everyone accepted him. None of them saw him as a replica of Riku, they only saw him as Ryuu. Even though he still looked and sounded just like Riku, his heart was his own and he had found a way to belong. He finally truly felt real. And that made his day even better.


	2. Chapter 2

_Ryuu smiled back as he reached out to hold Naminé's other hand. "You're welcome Naminé."_

Naminé leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Ryuu, giving him a gentle hug. Ryuu tensed up ever so slightly as had not expected it. But within the next few seconds a strong feeling of happiness filled up inside of him and he relaxed. He returned the hug to Naminé while he still kept smiling. He wasn't sure what the last time was when he felt this happy… but the more he thought about it… he wasn't sure he had ever felt this happy.

But that didn't matter to him anymore. He was happy now and that was what mattered most. He pulled back from the hug and looked at Namine again. He started to think of what he could say. He tried to think, but was drawing a blank. He was feeling a bit helpless as he couldn't think what to do or say. He never expected to actually be here… with everyone else… with Namine. He thought that he would accept his fate to fade away and that would be it, but now that wasn't the case.

Ryuu felt Naminé grab hold of one of his hands again. "Come on," she said as she gave a slight pull, indicating she wanted him to follow.

"What are we going to do?" Ryuu asked as he followed her towards the shoreline.

"Anything really. That's what everyone else is doing. I wanted to look by the shore though for shells with Xion," Naminé replied. "Do you want to look for shells with us?

"Sure," Ryuu said as he followed her down to the shoreline.

Xion was already there, running her hands through the sand, looking for shells. As Ryuu got closer he couldn't help but look at her with a bit of curiosity. " _So she's the other replica…"_ he muttered to himself in his thoughts. The more he looked at her the more he could that she had similarities to both Kairi and Namine, but yet she also looked completely different. She really did look like her own person compared to him.

Xion looked up at Ryuu and smiled at him. "Hi Ryuu."

"Uh hi," Ryuu said a bit quietly, feeling actually a bit shy or awkward much to his surprise. In his short lifetime he never had really interacted with many people before. At least not really many friendly people. Thinking back to his time in Castle Oblivion, he never thought of any of the Organization members as friendly or anything else like that.

He stared at Xion for a bit more, and she looked back. Without words they both were thinking the same thing; they were both replicas. That's how they both started at least. But now they were their own person.

Naminé knelled down next to Xion. "So what shells have you found now?"

"I found a few more flat ones with a blue and a purple shade, as well as a few round ones," Xion replied as she gestured to a small pile of shells.

"How pretty," Naminé said.

"So, what are you two planning to do with all of the shells then?" Ryuu asked, not exactly knowing what to do. He didn't think much about looking at shells and collecting them, but he was near Naminé, so he didn't mind as much.

"Right now we are just trying to find as many ones as we can," Naminé explained. "But we are thinking of maybe making something with them. Like necklaces… or maybe little charms."

"Charms… like the one…" Ryuu started to say, but then he faltered and stopped himself.

A memory had come to his mind, but he did his best to shut it out. The memory… it was one of the fake ones Naminé had been forced to make for him back at Castle Oblivion. The memory of when they were young and she had given her lucky charm. It was all fake. None of the supposed past he remembered was real.

Ryuu's fist tightened as he closed his eyes. He thought that he had moved past those thoughts. He thought he had moved on from thinking about how he wasn't real. How he never had a life or anything else. He thought he was over that… but now it had resurfaced. His feelings and thoughts… were they truly his own? Or were they just how he thought he should feel based on his fake past.

" _Are my… feelings for Naminé... are they even…"_ Ryuu trailed off with his thoughts, not wanting to complete them. It was only making him feel even more irritated.

"Ryuu?" Naminé asked as she looked over to see Ryuu, and saw that his face ran deep with concern and frustration. "Are you all right?"

Ryuu opened his eyes again and looked at Naminé. He wanted to smile at her and tell her that everything was all right. That there wasn't anything that was bothering him. But when he looked at her face, he knew he couldn't lie to her. He wanted to keep things nice and peaceful between the two of them, but he never wanted to hide anything from her. He cared for her, whether he knew it was legitimate feelings or not, he wanted to tell her the truth.

"I don't really know…" he started off with a sigh. "I was only thinking about things and it led to me thinking… well about my…memories."

Naminé glanced away, looking down at the shore. She seemed to pick up on what Ryuu was talking about. "Oh… I see."

"I know now of course that I never actually had a past… but those memories are still there. Every single one of them. And now, I guess I am feeling a bit unsure about it."

Naminé looked back at Ryuu, his eyes wide and filled with concern and perhaps a small bit of curiosity. "What do you mean by that?"

Ryuu now was the one to look away. He didn't want to see her face when he told her his next words. He didn't want to see her hurt expression. "It only reminded me of things. How most of my thoughts and feelings are because of those fake memories. Which made me start to wonder…" he took a deep breath. "A-Are my feelings for you even… real."

He heard a faint gasp from Naminé, but he still refused to look at her. He wanted to get these thoughts off his chest, but he did it at the expense that he may have hurt Naminé's feelings. He then felt a gentle hand on top of his, causing him to look back slightly. Naminé looked at him, a small smile was on her face.

"Of course they are real," Naminé stated. "They are your feelings and yours alone."

"Well I know they are real… but I mean they were just… they were programmed… or created. Manufactured memories are what make me feel the way I do," Ryuu said before biting his lip. The words were a lot harder to say than he thought, as they still hung heavily in his mind.

He knew what he was talking about was a sensitive subject, especially for Naminé. He knew how trapped and lonely she felt well being held prisoner at Castle Oblivion. Her time there was not something she probably wanted to think about or look back on. But that was still where everything had happened. The place where he was created and programmed as a replica of Riku. The place where Naminé had been forced to make a fake past for him in order to think he was the real Riku. He knew though he had to talk about it though. Otherwise it would have bottled up and he would only have felt worse later about it.

Naminé's grip tightened around Ryuu's hand. She pursed her lips together as she tried to figure out what to say to him. "The memories may be fake… but you have developed your own feelings. They may have been… influenced maybe by those memories, but you… you took things into your own hands. Once you knew you weren't… the real Riku, you chose your path and made your own choices."

Ryuu sighed again. He knew she was right, he wanted to believe that. But the doubts that everything was all caused by the fake memories still lingered in his mind. He didn't know what to answer back as he looked away again, deciding to stare out at the vast ocean.

Naminé kept looking at him, waiting for his answer. But she could see that he was still feeling conflicting. Finally, she had a single idea she thought she might as well ask. She wasn't sure if he would agree, but she saw no harm in asking. "Would you… want me to try to remove those memories then?"

"And have me be like an empty slate No… I wouldn't want that. It took me long enough to find my way, I wouldn't want to have to start that over again," Ryuu replied.

Someone else cleared their throat. Ryuu looked back to see it was Xion. She was still sitting right next to Naminé. Ryuu felt a little bad that he had forgotten about her being there. He had gotten so caught up in fixating about his fake memories that he forgot that Naminé and Xion were originally looking for shells.

"You know," Xion started. "I was only a replica originally created to copy Roxas. I never had, nor do, have any past memories. I did once, but they weren't even mine to begin with. Though of those memories… I was able to form an identity. Maybe it was because of those memories. Maybe they did influence me, or maybe they didn't, I don't know for sure. But I am still me. Everything I had done and said has always been my choice. And that's what matters."

Ryuu blinked a few times as he thought about what Xion had just said. He hadn't even thought about what her life must have been like. Though the words she said did give some relief to him. They made him feel a bit better about it all. She was able to live her life now even though she never had a past to start with. She was making her life as she went long.

" _Even though our situations are different, if she can go through her life now like that, I can find my own way then,"_ Ryuu thought before he turned his attention back to Naminé.

He placed his other hand over Naminé's and then took in a breath before he spoke. "I'm sorry if I upset either of you guys by this. I guess I got too lost in my doubts."

Naminé ended up smiling as she moved her hand to Riku's face. Her fingers gently pressed against his cheek. "It's all right Ryuu. At least you told me about it. I'm glad that you did."

Ryuu couldn't help but smile back at her. "I didn't want to keep it from you. But thank you, both of you."

"You're welcome," Xion said cheerfully. "Never forget that you aren't alone if you need to talk about anything. You have all of us now."

"Yeah, that's right. I guess I am still getting used to all of it. Still never expected to be here," Ryuu commented though he gave a small chuckle.

A moment passed before he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Naminé. He leaned in close as he whispered into her ear. "No matter what then, I will always care for you and want to protect you. This is what I feel and I know that much is true."

Naminé returned the hug as she felt a happy feeling fill inside of her. She knew that Ryuu truly meant those words from the bottom of his heart. Those were his true feelings about her. "Thank you Ryuu. That means so much to me."

The world around them seemed to fade away as they held each other in their arms. Though soon enough a small happy sigh was heard from next to them. Xion was still there of course. The two of them let go of one another and looked away, their cheeks slightly red now.

"Aw I didn't mean to interrupt. You guys looked so cute though," Xion replied.

"L-Let's just go back to looking for shells. I'll help you guys look for them," Ryuu said quickly.

Naminé and Xion exchanged glances for a moment before they giggled at one another. Ryuu had a feeling why they may have been doing that, but knew not to ask. He just started to run his sands through the sand as he began to look for shells.

A few minutes passed as Ryuu, Namine, and Xion started to look for and gather shells of all different types. Though footsteps were soon heard and Ryuu looked up to see Lea… or Axel… he wasn't exactly sure at this point what name the redhead wanted to be called. He just decided to go with Axel, since that is how he knew him. Besides Naminé and Riku, Axel was the only other one at the beach party who knew him. Well… who remembered him at least.

"Hey Ryuu, wanna play a game of team frisbee with me, Ventus and Isa?" he asked.

"Huh? Why would you want me?"

"Cause we need a fourth person, and why not you? Are you saying you don't think you could play a game of frisbee?" Axel asked with a rather smug expression.

Ryuu stood up as he kept looking at Axel. "No I bet I could. I just…" he looked over to Naminé and Xion. "Uh is it all right if-"

Both of the girls giggled again, making Ryuu feel a slight bit embarrassed. Naminé was then the one to speak. "You can go. We'll just be right here."

Axel patted Ryuu on the shoulder. "Come on then, let's go."

Ryuu nodded and followed behind Axel over to where Isa and Ventus were waiting. Once they were there, Axel spoke up again. "Well we got a fourth player. Now to split up the teams. I say the adults verse the children." Axel laughed after he gave his idea on the teams.

"Hey! We aren't children," Ventus retorted with a chuckle.

"Says the one who slept for over a decade and still doesn't look any older fifteen," Axel replied jokeily.

Ryuu chuckled a little at the small banter, but then decided to say something else. "Ventus, you don't have to worry. Even if he thinks we are ' _children'_ doesn't mean we can't beat him and Isa."

"Now that sounds like a fun challenge," Isa added as he gave a small smile.

"Let's do it then!" Ventus said enthusiastically as he pumped a fist into the air. He then turned to look at Ryuu. "And Ryuu, just call me Ven."

Ryuu nodded back in acknowledgement before the four of them got set up to play against each other. Axel quickly explained the rules of team frisbee, but it sounded like Axel was just making it up as he went. Now that Ryuu thought about it, he had never heard of a 2vs2 game of team frisbee before. But it wasn't long until all four of them had really gotten into the swing of it..

Even though it just ended up them, passing the frisbee around as fast as they could, they were still all having fun with it. Ryuu actually never expected to enjoy it that much. At first he was still subconsciously wondering what the others were thinking of him, since out of the three, Axel was the only one to know him. Even then, they didn't really know each other too well. Axel had used him when he was at his lowest moment back at Castle Oblivion. But again, that was all in the past. Ryuu knew for sure now he had finally passed all of that and wasn't planning on dwelling on it ever again.

Though the game shorted ended once Ventus missed a pass and the frisbee collided right into a rather impressive sand sculpture that Donald had been building. Donald was about to yell angrily at them when his attention was brought elsewhere. Ryuu looked around and saw that everyone was slowly looking in the same direction.

Over on the smaller island that had the paopu fruit, Ryuu saw that Kairi and Sora were sitting on the large base of the tree. It only just occurred to Ryuu that he hadn't seen either of them when he arrived at the party.

" _Have they just been there the entire time? Or… is there something I am missing?"_ Ryuu thought to himself. He had yet to ask Riku what had happened during the battle against the Real Organization, so he had no idea if something had happened or not. Though from the way everyone looked towards the two on the tree, Ryuu felt there was something else going on. He figured though he would find out soon enough though what had happened.

* * *

"So why don't you say anything to her?" Ryuu asked Riku.

The party had ended shortly after everyone saw Sora just disappear. It had not made any sense to Ryuu at that current time, but Riku explained once everyone else left to head back home. It was just the two of them now on the main island, sitting down on the sand as they looked at the now early night sky.

"I wouldn't know what to say. Not right now at least. She just needs some more time to take things in. We all do…" Riku finally replied.

"I still can't believe you just let him go off on his own like that, despite knowing what he was doing could be dangerous," Ryuu replied with a huff of air.

Riku sighed. "I know. At first I was letting him go on his own because it was his choice. But if I had known… if I had known what he was trying to do. If I knew what he was doing to bring her back. I would have… Maybe I could have done something then."

Ryuu looked over to see Riku staring out at the ocean, a heavy and hurt look painted his face. He knew that Riku was torn up about what had happened to Sora, but he wasn't showing much of that. He was trying to keep his calm composure about it all. Though Ryuu could still tell of course. Ryuu knew what Riku was really thinking on the inside.

"You can't keep thinking about what you could have done. That doesn't help do anything," Ryuu replied, hoping that he could say something to help Riku feel a bit better. He knew he wasn't the best at it, but he wanted to try. After all Riku had done to help him, he wanted to try and return the favor in some way or form.

"Yeah…" Riku sighed heavily. "It's just during our Mark of Mastery exam I had become a Dream Eater in order to protect Sora. I had subconsciously done that because I knew I needed to protect my friend. I don't even think he ever realized that I helped him back then. But now… I feel like I failed to do what I had promised to do; to protect what matters."

"Stop beating yourself up over it though," Ryuu said as he rolled his eyes slightly. "I know you are trying to mope, but I also know that you are probably thinking of a way to get Sora back."

Riku closed his eyes and smiled slightly. "Yeah, you're right about that. All of those things." Riku then opened his eyes and looked up at the star filled sky. "I'll find a way to bring Sora back."

"Do you even have a plan or any idea what could have happened to him?" Ryuu asked.

"No, nothing yet. But I'll figure out something soon. Just need a little more time is all," Riku replied. He then looked over at Ryuu. "Though if I do go out to find Sora, I have something to ask."

"You want me to stay with Kairi and everything right?" Ryuu asked before Riku could even be given a chance to say anything.

Without a word Riku nodded. Both of them knew that whatever Riku would end up doing, it would be risky. If Riku did something dangerous and ended not coming back, he wouldn't want Kairi to be all alone. That would only break her heart more.

Ryuu had yet to actually properly talk with Kairi, but he knew that time would come when they would talk. Today was not the day for it though, but eventually he would get around to talking with her. And with that he knew what he was going to have to do. "Don't worry, I'll stay by her side." He paused for a moment before adding one last thing. "But that doesn't mean you can be completely reckless."

Riku laughed slightly. "Thanks Ryuu. At least I have someone to talk to about this. You are really the only one who would understand."

Ryuu scoffed though a smile appeared on his face. "Well I wonder why that is."

Riku laughed again, though he didn't say a word. Silence then fell between the two silver-haired boys. They both sat there as they listened to the waves rolling in and out. Soon enough though Ryuu started to feel curious about things again.

"When do you plan to leave?"

"I don't know… Few days maybe. I don't want to keep waiting. It's just wasting more time."

"Ah okay… I hope you can find him."

"Me too."

There was another pause before either of them spoke again. Riku slowly stood up though before he started again. "Come on, let's head home. We still have to see what my… our parents say about seeing you. I can guess they are going to be pretty confused."

"Yeah, let's go," Ryuu said before standing up.

The two of them started to head to the boat that would lead them back to the mainland. As they walked Ryuu couldn't help but think things over again. It already felt like so long ago when he was ready to fade away after his sacrifice for Naminé. So much had happened and now it felt Ryuu wondering what could happen next. Time could only tell though, but now he at least had more reason to be there.

He knew his main reason to be there was to see Naminé again, but with everything that had happened, he knew there would be more he could do. With the future still a bit uncertain, he knew he had to do whatever he could. While he wasn't thinking of himself as Riku anymore, it didn't mean that they still didn't share some similar thoughts. Ryuu still had the thoughts of wanting to protect his friends, which he had a lot more of now, and it was a lot more than he ever could have expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, another chapter up here and all. Originally it was just suppose to be a one shot, but then I wanted to expand on things more because I started to get more ideas. Hope you all enjoyed!


	3. Chapter 3

Riku and Ryuu stood outside the house, neither of them speaking a word. Riku stood there though, contemplating what he was going to do or say next. He had been gone quite a long time from home, and he knew his mother already worried the first time he had vanished. He remembered after well over a year when he returned and how much his parents scolded him and yet were relieved to see him at the same time.

Now he had gone off again without a word for a long period of time and only returned briefly for that one day before the final battle had taken place. But now he was back home, and this time with Ryuu. He still had not thought of how he was going to explain it to his parents. He wasn't even sure what they were going to say. But he knew at least he had to give it a try.

"So are you going to just keep standing here?" Ryuu asked, sounding a bit impatient.

"Sorry, just was thinking. I know mom is going to give me an ear full once I open that door though. Guess I just wanna take in this list moment of silence," Riku replied as he flashed a quick smile.

"Well you shouldn't keep her waiting. I'll just be off to the side here… until you figure out how to explain me," Ryuu said as he walked slightly to the side, out of range from the door.

Riku nodded before taking in a deep breath. He stepped forward closer to the front door and knocked slowly. Only a few seconds passed before the door swung open and Riku's mother stood directly in the center.

"Riku! Where have you been?! I thought you would finally stop going off and disappearing, but again today I come to find you not anywhere in the house and no where around town. You can't just keep leaving without saying a word!"

Riku stood firmly as he let his mother yell at him. He could only lower his head slightly and give a slight nod as she talked. Once she finished though he lifted his head to speak. "I know, and I'm sorry… for disappearing so much."

"Why though? Why do you just keep disappearing like that? Is there something you are hiding?" Riku's mother asked him as she crossed her arms.

"No nothing like that," Riku replied as he shook his head. "It's just… I can't really explain the reason." He paused for a moment before he quickly added to his words. "But don't worry! It's nothing serious that you need to worry about."

Riku's mother stated long and hard, analyzing everything he had said. She still did not seem convinced yet. "So you can't tell me anything?"

Riku lowered his head. "No. Though today at least I was actually on the small island with some friends."

"Hmm…" His mother hummed as she took a step closer to Riku. She looked deeply into his eyes before finally sighing. "Well… if you say so. I guess I cannot press you any further. But I would like it if you could tell me at least one day. Come on in now, I'll heat up your supper."

She turned around to walk inside when Riku spoke up again. "Oh mom, there is one other thing though."

She turned around. "What is it?"

Riku looked over at Ryuu and motioned for him to come over. Slowly he took a few steps closer as he came into the line of sight of Riku's mother. As soon as she saw him her eyes widened with deep levels of confusion. She glanced between the two of them as she waited for answers.

"This is Ryuu… and he's… well…" Riku tried to say but he couldn't find the right words. He didn't want to have to explain the entire replica situation to his mother nor did he want to. As he didn't know exactly how Ryuu would feel about it.

"Let me guess, it has to do with when you went away and you can't explain it right?"

"Uh. Yeah… like that," Riku replied, thankful his mother caught on. "So I was wondering, since he needs a place to stay…"

He didn't finish as he watched his mother take a few steps closer to Ryuu. She leaned over slightly and met his eye level. Ryuu stared back though, unable to say anything. He wasn't sure what he could even say. To him, she was technically his mother from his fake memories, but in reality he didn't know her at all. He wanted to though, but at the same time he felt afraid.

While he didn't mind too much being the brother of Riku, it was his parents that worried him. He wasn't sure what they would think of him or even if they would accept him. He didn't want to be treated just like Riku though… that was the other half of the fear. His whole goal in all of this was to be his own person, but he was afraid of how Riku's parents might see him.

"So, you're Ryuu?" Riku's mother finally asked, with a softness to her voice.

Ryuu took a deep breath and finally tried to answer. "Yeah. I am."

Without another word Riku's mother wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in close. She started to gently run her hand through his hair. She hummed softly before speaking again. "It's nice to meet you Ryuu. Of course you can stay here, I won't mind at all."

Ryuu stiffened slightly. He didn't expect her to be so open, yet at the same time he did. He knew that she was a kindhearted woman, but it was still coming as a surprise. The way she was just easily accepting him though made him worry slightly more. Was she just accepting him because he looked just like Riku? Did she just see him as Riku from the time that the real Riku was away? Was he just going to be a replacement for that time that had been lost? Ryuu frowned slightly as he let these thoughts invade his mind. The cold and negative thoughts were taking root again as they wouldn't stop.

Without even thinking he asked one of his thoughts aloud. "A-Are you sure? I mean… i-it's not just because I-"

"Shh," she hushed him, cutting him off from finishing. "You told me you were Ryuu. That's who you are. I'm just happy, because I now have a second son."

Ryuu felt the tension from his body loosen as new feelings filled inside of him. Fake memories of being around a mother and father was one thing. Having fake memories of being loved by them was just that… fake. But to be in the moment right then and there. To truly be embraced and loved for who he was... to have the real feeling of being held by a mother… that was totally different.

His eyes slowly started to blur as he raised his arms to wrap around Riku's mother. Though really, she was also his mother now. He wanted to try and contain his emotions, but they continued to swell up. It was still hard for him to believe how so much could have happened all just in one day. All in one day he had gotten his own body, reunited with Namine, started to make friends with the others, and now had a mother who was going to love him for who he was.

He didn't want to let go, but he felt his mother pull back from their embrace and stood back up. She smiled largely as she looked from Ryuu to Riku. "Now come on boys, let's head inside."

* * *

The remainder of the evening went as Ryuu thought it was going to go. Ryuu got to meet Riku's…or their father, and he just as their mother did and accepted him. He openly accepted him for who he was, embracing him and welcoming him home. It felt all too surreal for Ryuu. Having these moments with people who were really his parents. Being loved by them and for being himself and not Riku. It was almost unbelievable at first, but he was slowly adjusting to it.

Though both his parents did not expect someone like him to ever show up at their doorstep, they easily did what they could to adjust to that fact as well. There was thankfully a guest bedroom across from Riku's room that they said would be Ryuu's now. Once they figured that out, they both started to think more technically on the matter. Ryuu had just shown up, he had no documentation on who he was or anything else. Though it seemed to worry them at first, Riku said that he knew someone who could probably help them. Ryuu could only assume it was most likely Even.

But before long his mother came and presented him and Riku with supper. It was tomato basil soup with some garlic bread on the side. Just a simple dinner. But… it wasn't to Ryuu. He had never eaten an actual meal before. He figured the reason for that was in his original replica body, it was not suited for something like that. He only could assume that since during his time in his original replica body he never ate once. But now in this newer replica body… he actually was feeling hungry. The longer he stared at the wonderful smelling soup, he could feel the hunger within him.

Slowly Ryuu took the soup spoon and dipped it gently into the bowl. Once it had soup on it he brought it just before his lips and blew on it to cool it down. With a deep breath he then placed the tip of the spoon in his mouth. As soon as he felt the warm and tasty soup in his mouth, his eyes began to water. Never before had he tasted such things.

"Ryuu?" his mother asked as she walked over to him. "Is something wrong?"

Ryuu placed down the spoon before trying to wipe away his tears. He wasn't particularly fond of showing such emotions to others, but he knew between Riku and their parents it would be fine. But even with that he tried to calm himself down a little before shaking his head.

"N-No. Nothing's wrong. It's just…" He looked up to meet his mother's eyes. He put forth the best smile he could as he wanted to show how honest his answer was. "It's really delicious. Thank you."

* * *

Once dinner for the boys had finished, both Riku and Ryuu washed their own dishes as their parents went off to set up the guest room for Ryuu. At first Ryuu had offered to wash all of the dishes, but Riku said that he needed to help making it up to their mother by also helping out. So they worked together, Riku would wash and Ryuu would dry and then place them back in their proper places.

"This all still feels so weird," Ryuuu commented as he dried the next plate before placing it back on the shelf.

"How so?" Riku asked.

"I still never thought I would be here. I was ready to have it be over back then. Doing everything I could to help you so we could save Naminé. I didn't care what happened to me, just as long as I knew Naminé could have a chance. But now… seeing how accepting everyone was to me… I still am having a hard time taking it all in. Especially about… mom and dad."

"But you should know right? I mean…" Riku hesitated slightly as he thought over his next words. He knew that neither he or Ryuu wanted to keep thinking on the fact that he was originally a replica. But he was trying to find a way to say what he was thinking without even directly saying it.

Thankfully Ryuu seemed to pick up on it and gave a shrug. "I know. But even with those false memories, it still doesn't mean that I expected it to be like this. It's just a bit weird is what I mean. To be… you know not you… but me and to have everyone see it as that. I think it is just going to take me a little bit longer to get used to it."

"You can take all the time you need then," Riku said before handing over a glass to Ryuu.

After that they fell silent again as they concentrated on washing and drying the rest of the dishes. Once they had finished Riku and Ryuu walked down the hall to where Ryuu's room would be. It was of course a plain guestroom, with a few shelves with books, but other than that there wasn't a whole lot to it. Ryuu stepped inside and started to walk around.

Though his interests were similar to Riku's he was already thinking of ways to change up the plain room to better fit his style. He knew his parents wouldn't mind as they were given the room to him to have after all. As Ryuu started to get lost in thought, Riku leaned against the doorway and smiled.

"So you're glad then?" Riku finally asked after a few minutes.

"Glad? For… what exactly?" Ryuu asked as he stopped to look at Riku.

"Glad you listened to me and came back," Riku stated.

"What's this now? You trying to get a 'thank you' out of me?" Ryuu asked as he crossed his arms.

Riku chuckled softly. "Well you never really did, aside from thanking me for helping think of your name."

"What does it matter though?"

Riku stared a bit longer glancing to the side, a slight bit of sadness filing his eyes. "Well… I keep thinking back on it… If I hadn't come to find you… you would have just… disappeared. Gone forever… and I would have regretted that."

Ryuu at first felt like retorting something back to Riku, but he could see that Riku was having the sadness in his eyes still. The weight of the past few days was setting in again and it seemed to just need to talk things out once again.

With a small sigh Ryuu walked over to Riku. He pressed his lips together for a moment before he smiled. "Thank you then. Thank you for your corny advice that actually managed to convince me."

Riku ended up laughing slightly. "That's good to know what kind of advice you'll listen to then. I'll have to remember that for the future."

Riku then reached out to ruffle Ryuu's hair, but just as he started to do it Ryuu pushed his hand away. "Are you just going to start doing that now? Cause it's going to get annoying."

"Well since we are brothers, I thought why not start to act more brotherly. I am the older brother after all now," Riku said as the sadness seemed to leave him, now only a smirk across his face.

"And who said I agreed to having you be the older brother?"

"You can't be the older brother though. I'm taller, stronger, and actually older than you," Riku replied, keeping his smirk on his face.

"Hmph, maybe I'll ask Even then to make me an older looking replica body."

Riku laughed. "I don't think that's how it works. But too bad, you're stuck with me as the older one. So you gotta deal with it."

Ryuu rolled his eyes, as he tried not to let out a laugh, but for some reason he felt like laughing anyways. Maybe it was just because he was having a fun and friendly conversation with Riku. That was something that had never happened between them before. But now… it was something that would be happening much more often. "Whatever."

"Really though, it is really nice to have you back," Riku said, a deep and seriously honest in his tone.

"Yeah, I know…" Ryuu said as he shifted his eyes off to the side.

"I'll be back, I'll grab some of my older clothes and sleepwear for you. If you want that is, otherwise we'll probably have to go out to buy some new stuff."

"Nah, it's fine for now. I kind of expected to get hand-me-downs from you. I don't wanna have mom and dad go out now and buy a bunch of new things just for me. I'll deal with what I got for now. Your fashion sense isn't the worst in all the world, thankfully."

"Hey," Riku laughed, trying to sound offended.

"I said it _isn't_ the worst. So you should take that as a compliment," Ryuu chuckled as he smirked back to him.

"Yeah I know. Oh also tomorrow I was thinking, if you wanted to come with, I was going to talk into town for a while. Meet up with old friends and see how everyone has been. Since you're sticking with me now, I thought I could introduce you to everyone else."

Ryuu thought about it for a moment. He knew Riku had a few other friends besides Sora and Kairi back home, they just were not as super close as those two were. Ryuu knew of them of course, but didn't know all too much about them. But there was a slight hesitation in his heart as he considered the option. He lowered his head and stared at the floor as he let the thoughts invade his mind, not caring to push them away.

Sure he had easily ended up making friends with everyone on the smaller island during the party. But that was because everyone knew about other worlds and everything that had happened. They knew about replicas and it made sense to them, and they still accepted Ryuu as his own person. But everyone else here, they didn't know any of them. And Ryuu wasn't too sure if they would be as accepting and nice about as his mom and dad were. He started to wonder if the others would question it more or just think of him as Riku… as that was his original fear in coming back.

He tried to tell himself that it didn't matter anymore. He was his own person now. But for some reason he couldn't stop himself from thinking poorly on it. But thankfully he didn't have long to dwell on it as he felt Riku place his hands on his shoulders. Ryuu looked back up to meet Riku's eyes.

"Hey what's with that face? I thought you were over that stuff already," Riku said, speaking calmly and softly.

"I know… I guess I am not as over it as I thought though. Still have to work through it a bit more…" Ryuu replied with a defeated sigh.

"Don't seem so down about it though. It's not like you can just flip on a dime how you feel about things like this. But you know you can do it, just take it easy. You don't have to join me tomorrow if you don't want to."

"No I'll come with. You'll be seeing Kairi anyways won't you? I should finally meet her, if she wants to talk, that is," Ryuu said.

Riku nodded as he dropped his arms from Ryuu's shoulders. "Yeah, it would be good to have that at least. I do need to see Kairi though… better sooner than later…" Riku's eyes drifted to the side, the heavy sadness starting to seep in again.

Ryuu saw that expression and quickly tried to think of what he could do to cheer Riku up. He still hated to see him look so distraught over everything, but he wasn't sure what else he could say. So without a word he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Riku and held him tightly. Just as he expected, Riku was quickly snapped from his thoughts and instead stared at Ryuu with a perplexed look.

"Wh-What? Ryuu what are you doing?"

Ryuu looked up and chuckled. "Just trying to be a good younger brother."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it is time for the next chapter here!  
> I hope that you all are enjoying. If you have any thoughts, let me know. I am always curious for what people think.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning came faster than Ryuu had expected. He blinked a few times to adjust his eyes. He then took in the surroundings in the room he was in. Initial thoughts let him feel a bit confused as to where he was, seeing as this was not his room.

He blinked again. No… it was his room. He was only thinking that it wasn't Riku's room. And that wasn't who he was anymore.

" _I guess I should start thinking of ways to make this feel more like my room. Something that isn't Riku though…"_ Ryuu thought to himself. " _Can I really have some different choices in what I like though? I mean I know there are some already, but I still don't know for sure."_

Ryuu sat up in his bed and rubbed his eyes slowly. " _There is still so much I need to adjust to… So much I need to remember."_ He sighed. " _I know I'll get it though."_

Once Ryuu got out of bed he walked over to the dresser on the opposite side of the room. Before Ryuu had gone to bed, Riku had brought in some of his old clothes that would fit him. It still felt a bit silly to be dressing in Riku's old clothes. He was supposed to be his own person yet he was stuck with hand-me-downs of who he was replicated after.

Ryuu shook his head. He had to stop thinking about how he was just a replica. Even if there was still lingering thoughts about it in his mind he couldn't let it get to him. Even though he would be wearing Riku's old clothes for a while, he did have one unique outfit that was all his own.

He started to shuffle through the clothes, thinking about what he wanted to wear. As he thought through it, an idea slowly started to come to him. He didn't know if it would work, but he figured he would ask Riku later.

Soon he finally decided on an outfit, one he deemed was part of the least cringy outfits from when Riku was only 15. Though he didn't think much about it before, he now realized that a lot of Riku's fashion choices seemed to reflect the same array of colors; blues, blacks, and yellows.

The tank top he had picked out was a black tank top with yellow, jagged stripes going diagonal across the front. The shorts were basic, with them just being a dark blue color with a few black buttons on the style for some form of style.

He headed out of the room now that he was dressed and walked over to the bathroom. Seeing as his room currently was still only a basic guest room, there was no mirror. He wanted to at least see how he looked, though he knew full well how he looked. Still he thought he might do it anyways.

In the bathroom he stared at his reflection. Now wearing Riku's old clothes, he for a moment got lost in thinking he was only looking at Riku. That he wasn't himself. He was still just an exact copy of Riku and every which way.

Ryuu sighed as he placed a hand to his face. He ran his fingers over his eyes, then over the rest. He brushed back his hair and ran his fingers over his ears. New ideas started to come to his mind the longer he stared at his reflection.

" _What if I got something like an ear piercing? That would make me stand out from Riku…"_

Ryuu's hands then moved to his hair. He pulled it back slightly, making it look like his hair was shorter. " _Or maybe I could cut my hair… Cut it differently than how Riku has it."_

He let go of his hair, letting it fall down to just past his shoulders. " _Or maybe I could keep growing it out. Grow it longer than when Riku had his hair long. Just something… something to be different… If I could do that, I think it could help me get over this."_

Ryuu had been so focused stared at his reflection that he didn't even hear a knock on the door. But when he heard the clearing of someone's throat he jumped. He had forgotten to close the door and now he saw his mother standing in the doorway.

"Good morning Ryuu," his mother said.

"Oh, good morning mom," Ryuu replied softly.

"I'm sorry if I interrupted you. I didn't realize you were in deep thought."

"No it's all right. It's not really that important," Ryuu said.

After he spoke his eyes glanced to the side again, seeing his reflection in the mirror. His mother hummed as she stepped into the bathroom and stood next to him. Ryuu looked back at the mirror once more and saw her smile as she stood behind him.

"Having a bit of trouble?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want to pry too deeply, but you're having a bit of an identity crisis, right?"

Ryuu's eyes widened. He stared at her in the mirror's reflection rather than turning around to actually see her. "W-What do you mean by that?"

"I mean with your appearance."

Ryuu stared longer. Did she figure out who he really was? Or did Riku tell her last night at some point? Had her opinion of him changed now?

"Don't worry," she replied as she placed a hand on top of Ryuu's head. "It's just a feeling I got; A mother's intuition."

"But what do you mean then?" Ryuu asked, feeling relieved that his mother was just being how a mother should be.

"You want to do something about your hair. Something to make you look a little different than Riku."

She hit the nail right on the head. Ryuu wanted to be surprised, but he knew that she was his mother. And as a mother she was far wiser about those things that he was. But that meant it was a good thing and she was willing to help him out.

"You don't have to do anything too drastic," his mother went on. "If you want, it can be something simple."

"Like what?" Ryuu asked, feeling curious what she was thinking.

His mother smiled at him before opening the cabinet next to the mirror. She then opened a small box that was in the cabinet. Ryuu looked as she pulled out a small black band. She stretched it in her fingers and it clicked what it was. It was a hair tie.

Ryuu watched the mirror as his mother began to gently run her fingers through his hair. He didn't say anything as she worked. He only was wondering how everything was going to turn out in the end.

"In my opinion, a person's appearance can look far different if their hair is pulled back. When I was a young adult, I used to wear my hair back quite often. And people thought I looked younger than I really was. It also just gave a different look to me. I don't know how I would properly explain it, but it really does make a difference."

Ryuu continued to keep his eyes on his mother, carefully looking as she gathered up his hair. She pulled it back and then put the hair tie through it and wrapped it around once to make it tight and secure.

"There. Now take a look and tell me what you think," his mother said as she placed her hands on his shoulders.

Ryuu focused his attention back on himself in the mirror. He blinked a few times as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing.

He was looking at himself, he knew that much. But now with all of his hair pulled back into a semi-loose ponytail in the back, there really was something different.

Just as his mother had said, he wasn't sure how to explain it. He saw himself and saw that there was some difference in how he looked. All that had happened was his hair was pulled back. But it still seemed to make something change in how he looked.

" _Maybe with my hair being pulled back, it draws more attention to my face. Like it makes it stand out more or something."_ Ryuu started to think to himself as he kept looking at his new look.

Despite it only being a minor change, he found that he liked it. Riku never had worn his hair back before, so to see how Riku would have looked if he did it was quite an interesting fact. The more Ryuu looked at his new ponytail, the more he found that he really did like how it looked.

With only pulling his hair back, it made him look different enough that he felt he could go outside without others immediately thinking he was Riku. Now all he had to work on was dealing with the clothes situation.

Feeling far better than he had before, he turned around to properly face his mother. He smiled at her. "Thanks, I think it works just fine."

His mother returned a smile. "You're welcome Ryuu. If you ever need any advice for anything else, just let me know. Okay?"

Ryuu relaxed and kept smiling. He was more than happy to know that his mother was really wanting to be there for him. She really did care for him for who he was and was willing to help out if he had any further problems.

"Thanks mom."

He was ready to leave the bathroom when his mother pulled him into a surprise hug. Since it was without warning he felt his body tense up slightly. But once he saw that it was only a hug, he relaxed himself and continued to let her hold him. Though he did wonder what warranted such an out of nowhere hug.

"Ryuu," his mother whispered. "I'm glad that you're here. Having a second son around is something more wonderful than I could have ever wished for."

A wandering thought came to Ryuu as to why she decided to say that. He hadn't expected something like it. He tried not to think too much about it though. Instead he returned a hug to his mother, figuring it would make the moment better.

"I'm glad that you are good with me being here," Ryuu whispered.

His parents had accepted him in with open arms. They showed him love for who he was. But he still worried a little. He worried that they only were loving him because he was Riku when he vanished for a year. There were small negative thoughts inside of him that made him feel like that was the reason they were happy. That Ryuu was just filling in for the time they had lost with Riku

" _No cut that out,"_ Ryuu hissed in his mind. " _They aren't like that. They wouldn't just use me for something like that. They really do care… It's who they are."_

"Ryuu, we are more than happy to have you here. Don't go forgetting that."

A new smile came to Ryuu. Any negative thoughts that he had before faded away and there was only the warmth of the hug. That and the genuine love that came from his mother's words.

Ryuu thanked her once more before they let go of one another. His mother headed out of the bathroom after that, saying she had to go get breakfast ready for everyone. Now Ryuu was left alone again with only his reflection. But he didn't have any more complaints or arguments to have with himself on that subject. With nothing else to do, he left the bathroom and started down the hall.

As he walked, he started to consider his mother's words again. How she was happy to have a second son. Without even thinking about it, he pulled from his memories. He didn't really want to, as he was trying to move past that. But he saw that the thought came to him to help him better understand it.

Though his memories were fake, for the most part everything about his family was just the same as it was in real life. The only difference in his memories with Riku was Namine was there and not Kairi. Other than that, everything Riku knew about his family, Ryuu also knew.

There was a faint memory from childhood… Riku's childhood. He could recall that his parents once had told Riku that they were thinking of having another child. That Riku could possibly be an older brother one day. The young Riku was excited to hear that, but was told not to ask about it until his parents gave a confirmed answer.

The answer never came though and little Riku ended up forgetting about it.

Whatever the reason was, that second child that Riku's parents thought of having never happened.

There were several reasons that came to Ryuu's mind as he tried to process it. He figured there was probably some reason as to why it was never brought up again. That made what his mother said before all the more clear.

" _I really am the second son that they had wished for. It doesn't matter who I look like,"_ Ryuu thought to himself.

He started to chuckle happily. The morning had taken an unexpected turn, but it was a good turn. Not only had he found a way to deal with it appearance, but he realized that he truly was loved for who he was by his parents. He was the child they had longed for so long ago. It was a great start for his first real day in his new life, and he now found himself excited to see what could happen next.


	5. Chapter 5

Ryuu walked into the kitchen, still feeling cheerful, there he saw Riku at the table, eating a bowl of cereal. When Ryuu grabbed a bowl for himself and sat down, Riku looked at him for a moment with a curious stare.

"What are you staring at?" Ryuu asked as he poured his cereal.

"Nothing," Riku shrugged. "Just didn't expect the ponytail, it looks good."

"Thanks," Ryuu replied, not actually expecting Riku to compliment him.

"So, I am still planning to head into town today. Like I said last night, I'm going to see a few people and stuff, before… going to see Kairi," Riku said. "Just let me know if you're ready, if you still want to go."

Ryuu hummed softly as he began to eat. Things were already feeling better for Ryuu from last night, and now he was feeling ready to take on the day. He had a new found confidence and he was going to make the best of it. "Yeah I'll still come. I wanna see you try your hardest to explain the new and random brother you now have."

Riku laughed. "What? You don't think I could figure out something?"

"Knowing you, which is obvious… yes."

"I'll take that as a challenge then," Riku replied, smiling a little more than before.

Ryuu smiled back before returning to finish his breakfast. Once he was done he washed his dish and went to the door to meet Riku, who was already up there by the time he finished. When the two of them were ready, they headed out into the clear and sunny outside, feeling the warm fresh air brush against them.

Ryuu followed Riku closely as they headed into town. They ended up not speaking to one another, mainly because Ryuu found himself lost in thought. He was once again actually seeing something that only existed in his memories. He knew the town by heart, but as his memories were only fabricated, the real experiences had never happened.

Now he was finally getting to feel and see it all for real. Every sensation kicked in as they headed into the main part of town. Feeling a bit uncertain at first, Ryuu stuck closely to Riku, keeping his gaze focused on the ground. If he didn't have to look at anyone or anything, he wouldn't have to overwhelm himself.

Though he scolded himself internally for that. He knew what he was doing was childish and going against what he set out to do. If he only hid away at any chance to experience things for the first time, then he would never understand any of them properly. If he wanted to adjust he had to try harder. He did desperately want to try harder, he wanted this to work.

With a deep breath he raised his head back and began to look around at the town that was his home. Right away he began to smile as he saw the site of the tropical trees and the colorfulness of the buildings and all of the plants that surrounded them. The way the light shined down to give everything a healthy glow of life made it all the more pleasurable to look at.

"Oh, Riku. How nice it is to see you again," a voice said pulling him from staring too long at everything.

He looked to his side and saw that Riku was over at a store front. It was a small little bakery and outside with a broom was a kind looking old woman. She smiled at Riku. "It feels like it's been ages since I last saw you come through town. You've grown so much. Such a tall handsome young man now."

Riku smiled softly before rubbing the back of his neck. "Thank you ma'am."

"And still so polite as always," the woman smiled. Her gaze then turned to Ryuu and a little bit of confusion fell onto her face. "Riku, I didn't know you had a younger brother?"

"Ah… well this is Ryuu, and he…" Riku trailed off, trying to figure out what he was going to say.

Ryuu would have found Riku's fumbling and worriedness amusing if it wasn't for the fact he was trying to make a cover up for him. Ryuu stood perfectly still, not even able to find words for himself. The woman slowly stepped closer and looked Ryuu directly in the eyes. She narrowed them slightly before stepping back a bit to look at both of the boys.

"You don't need to try and explain anything to me, I think I understand. It is nice to meet you Ryuu," the woman said before nodding her head slightly.

"Huh? But we didn't even-" Ryuu started to say, but he was cut off.

The old woman's eyes shined brightly with knowledge and wonder. "I've been around for many years my boys. I know a thing or two that the younger ones don't really know as much. I know there are things out there that are far too hard to explain for us here. I've read and heard the old stories there is magic that is hidden to most eyes and other things that would seem far too unreal for us to believe."

The boys glanced at each other and then to the old woman again. Neither of them knew what to say or even what to think. The old woman smiled and began to laugh. "You don't have to worry though, I understand."

"Oh, well… thank you," Ryuu said, trying to speak up more properly.

"It's nothing. But I do hope you are as kind and polite as your brother is," the old woman replied with an amused grin.

"Ah, yes. I mean I'll try to be… ma'am," Ryuu stumbled into saying, his cheeks turning red slightly from the apparent embarrassment he was feeling.

Riku laughed, causing Ryuu to recover sooner and instead started to glare at him. "Don't laugh about this!"

"Why not? I don't think I have ever seen you

The old woman started to laugh next. "How adorable. Now before you two head off let me give you something. Wait one moment." the woman turned around and headed inside of her bakery. The two only had to wait a short bit before she returned with two small boxes with a plastic top. Inside each of them was a detailed little cupcake with light purple frosting.

"Little gift for the two of you. Hope you enjoy," she said before handing one box to Riku and the other to Ryuu.

The boys thanked her before they finally turned and started to walk through more of the town. Ryuu stared down at the cupcake as they walked, looking at the delicate texture that the frosting had. It really did look quite tasty and he could already feel his stomach grumbling to take a bite.

"Well that went easier than expected at least," Riku commented as they walked.

"I guess so. But I have no idea how you are going to tell anyone else. She seemed like the only special case."

"Yeah… but I guess I still need to work on it. To find a good explanation. Though maybe people will believe me if I just say that you are a cousin."

"A look-a-like cousin, sure," Ryuu scoffed.

"Well I don't see you coming up with any ideas now do I?" Riku asked, slightly serious but also still in a joking tone.

Ryuu shrugged. "Maybe… Wait…" Ryuu slowed down and Riku turned to look at him. With a glance around Ryuu made sure that there wasn't anyone in close hearing range of the two of them. "I want to check if these are just apart of my fake memories or if it really has to do with you. But… weren't you homeschooled until highschool?"

Riku glanced to the ground, looking a little distant. "Yeah? What about it?"

"And Sora and Kairi were your only friends really from childhood onward, right?"

Riku puffed out his cheeks slightly, still having that distant look in his eyes. "Yeah I didn't have many friends growing up. I was a quiet kid, what's your point?"

"Why don't you just say the same for me? Homeschooled all these years and wasn't much of a social person."

"And if someone asks why haven't mom and dad ever mentioned you before?"

"Hey! I got that far with it, didn't I? Better than anything else you had," Ryuu said tauntily. "I guess that means I win."

"I didn't think this was a bet," Riku replied, smiling slightly.

"Well even if it wasn't I still won."

With a sigh Riku ended up nodding his head. "You're right though, for coming up with an explanation. Hopefully people will at least buy that. But let's get a move on, I'm supposed to meet Kairi in less than an hour. I still want to try and see some other people."

After going through more of the town they encountered a few other people who Riku spoke too. Though they weren't his main focus on who he wanted to find. Though he had said before he didn't have many other friends besides Sora and Kairi, there were a few at least that he had.

Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus were those three that Riku wanted to see to talk to for a little while. Though when Riku finally found them, Ryuu stood a bit further back. This felt different than any of the adults that they had briefly talked to on the way. An adult who just kind of knew Riku growing up was one thing, but friends that actually knew Riku growing up was another.

Ryuu had no memories of any of them. Sure he knew who they were, but in his memories they never played any part of being his friends. They were just in the background and nothing more to his memories. Now being in front of them he wasn't sure how to react or even what to say to them. Even with that he wasn't sure how they would react to meeting him, Riku was still talking to them first anyways. Though he could see them occasionally glancing to the side to stare at him, obviously wondering just who he was.

Ryuu swallowed as he tried to keep himself from feeling weary or sick. If he let himself worry too much he knew he wouldn't be able to keep going. He breathed in deeply, trying his hardest to keep himself composed and calm.

Finally Riku looked at him and waved him over. Ryuu held his breath before slowly coming closer to the group. He looked at each of them carefully, trying to figure out what they must be thinking about him. Was it something nice and positive or were they skeptical and disbelieving? It was nerve wracking either way and Ryuu hated the feeling.

"Hi Ryuu," Selphie said, being the first to speak up. She grinned largely before holding out a hand. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"Uh… hi," Ryuu said, his voice was much quieter than what he wished it would have been.

"It's so strange but cool to know that Riku has a little brother," Tidus added in.

"Yeah, surprising right?" Ryuu said, his mouth feeling dry.

He thought one of them asked him something else, but he couldn't focus on it. Without even realizing it, his vision was beginning to blur and his mind was aching. It had started as a small little stinging pain. It was something he had started feeling in the start since they began their walk, but he chose to ignore it. He thought it would be nothing, but now it was coming full force and it was burning.

Suddenly he felt strong arms grab his shoulders. He looked up to see everything still was blurring but he knew someone was in front of him. That someone was shouting at him… calling to him. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He fell forward into the chest of the person and he felt them still holding him. They said something more and then he felt their arms wrap around him and started to guide him somewhere.

He knew it had to be Riku. It wouldn't make any sense to be anyone else. Eventually they had walked somewhere and came to a stop again. He heard Riku speaking to him and slowly everything was coming back into focus.

"Ryuu… Can you hear me? Please give me some indication you can hear me."

"Ah…" Ryuu managed to get out while he tried to wrap his brain around what happened. Finally he breathed in and closed his eyes. "Y-Yeah… I can hear you."

Riku breathed in with a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. But what happened? Are you okay?"

"I…" Ryuu started to say, but he cut himself off. He lowered his head when he thought it over, realizing what had happened. He felt completely embarrassed by that fact… so weak that he had let it happen to him. "I'm fine."

He felt a hand on his arm. He slowly looked up to see Riku looking at him with concern. "Please. I can tell that something is wrong."

"I said it's fine." Ryuu tried to pull away from Riku, but he kept holding on.

"You froze up back there and looked like you were going to pass out. Don't try and pass this off, just tell me. I'm here for you."

Ryuu wanted to pull away. He wanted to tell Riku to leave him alone and not ask… but he knew Riku was right. He knew that he had Riku to be there for him. "I… I froze up yeah. I've just been feeling nervous this entire morning I guess without even realizing it."

"Why would you be nervous? I thought that you were good with everything now?"

"I'm… I don't know… I thought I could do this. Talk to people and just adjust. But I saw those three and something flipped in my mind. I only vaguely knew about them, but we were just going up to them and trying to pass off as if I have been here the entire time. Something just felt wrong in my mind… Like I didn't belong because they never met me and… and… I don't know how to explain it."

He thought Riku was going to reply, but instead he pulled Ryuu forward into an embrace. Ryuu squirmed a little, not exactly expecting or really wanting the closeness. But there was a gentleness to it. A gentle warm that seemed to relax everything else. He sighed deeply as he stayed in the embrace, letting everything in his mind finally relax.

"I'm sorry," Riku whispered a moment later. "I should have thought more about how you would react to going out into town meeting everyone so soon."

"I thought I could do it though… I thought everything was going to be fine," Ryuu murmured.

"I know. I did too, but I should have considered the bigger picture. Having you go out into the world right after coming back should have been a big sign that it would be too overwhelming. I'm sorry."

"You don't have to keep saying that. It's not your fault."

"It may not be all my fault, but it is partly mine and I feel responsible for what happened to you," Riku replied.

Ryuu huffed slightly. "You don't need to treat me like a child you have to watch over. I… I'll find a way…"

Ryuu found his words breaking off again. He knew that it was no good to try and push Riku away. He knew that Riku was only doing what he could to help. But there was still that nervousness in his stomach. Something that made all of this very unsettling. All of this was too new and too real for him to get used to so quickly.

"Let's just get you home, okay? I think you need to lie down and maybe drink something," Riku replied before finally letting go of Ryuu.

"Yeah… okay," Ryuu said, nodding slightly. He then looked around and down at his own hands. "Wait… what happened to the cupcakes?"

"Oh… when you froze up you ended up dropping your box. I left mine also with Selphie and the others. It's okay though, it was still in the box. I can go and get it from them later."

"Ah… okay… I should have figured." Ryuu sighed once more and lowered his head. He couldn't get the uneasy feeling in his stomach to stop, but it had calmed down a small bit. When they started to walk in the direction of home, Ryuu spoke up again. "Sorry if I've messed up the day. I know you wanted to see Kairi soon."

"No, it's fine Ryuu. What matters right now is you. Kairi will understand and I can go and talk to her later."

Ryuu nodded listening to Riku's words. "I guess I probably should go to meet her another day. I… I don't think I would be able to after what just happened."

"That's all right. We are just going to take things easy for now, okay? And if you ever feel like this again or anything else, I want you to tell me, okay?"

Ryuu didn't look at Riku, but he could tell that Riku was looking at him. He sighed and closed his eyes as they surrounded the street that lead down to their home. "Okay… I will…" Ryuu knew that he would try his best to tell Riku. He knew that Riku would do whatever he could to help and Ryuu honestly liked the fact he was willing. But… he was afraid of this happening again. He didn't want it to, but he had a strong feeling that his struggles and conflicts were far from over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally remembered to post this chapter. Now it is caught up at least, now just to write the next.


	6. Chapter 6

The next couple of days passed and Ryuu stayed back at home. He had thoughts of going outside and finally trying to get a move on with his life, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Until he truly felt ready to go back out into the world he decided he would stay inside and find something else to occupy his mind. He knew he couldn't be too hard to do, he just had to try.

There were still plenty of things he could accomplish like trying to find more things that he could claim as his own. Likes and dislikes that he would deem different that Riku and he could truly start to define himself.

He would make his own choices and determine what he liked. He was Ryuu, not Riku. He had to keep on reminding himself of that as best as he could. There were still many times throughout the days that he could feel those thoughts dragging him down.

Currently he was looking through an arrangement of different music CDs, all different genres. He already knew what Riku's choices in music were, and he was half tempted to listen to those just out of a natural reaction. But he knew that he couldn't… that he wouldn't. Those were Riku's choices… he needed his to be different.

After staring longer at the CDs for a few more minutes he exhaled deeply and ran a hand over his head. He pulled out the hair tie and let his hair fall down and onto his face. Giving one more exhale, he flopped back onto the couch. Once more he let his thoughts drift off, flipping back and forth on his dilemma. Just he could not get himself to stop thinking about the past… about his fake memories.

While he tried to push it all away, for some reason he began to think more about it. Not that he wanted to think about his fake memories and what it meant for him… but just how he was able to remember. He could remember nearly all of the fake memories that he had, though some felt fainter than others. But he could still recall and think about each and every one of them if he wanted to.

But there was something that always had bothered him from the start. Something that he hadn't truly considered until he was brought back. A small ping of worry twisted in his heart over the matter as soon as his thoughts dipped into it. It worried him far more than he would have wished and now he couldn't get it out of his head.

During his time that he was lost to the darkness… when he thought he would initially fade away… he had forgotten Naminé's name.

He could remember everything else about himself, from the fake memories to learning he was fake. To everything that transpired at Castle Oblivion… but her name was something he had forgotten.

In fact he hadn't been able to remember anyone's name up until he heard them. When he heard someone say the names of those he had forgotten it all came back to him, but Naminé was the last name he was able to remember. But it was forgetting Naminé's name that hurt him the most.

" _How could I… Why had I forgotten her name? She was all I had, fake memories or not… she was the most important thing to me and I just lost her name…"_

Ryuu groaned as he let himself go deeper and deeper into his thoughts, not even bothering to stop himself from going too far with it. It nagged him and twisted his heart to realize that he had ever let such a thing happen, even though he knew full well that it was beyond his control.

Running a hand through his hair, he pulled strains of it down over his face. He couldn't find any energy to sit back up, there was just too much weighing down on him, making his entire body feel heavy. Instead he closed his eyes and started breathing deeply, and with that he let a few tears trickle down his cheeks.

" _What would she think? If she found out I forgot her name… would she be upset? No… that isn't like her. Maybe she would worry…"_ Ryuu sighed as slowly as he could, trying his best to not get himself too stressed over the matter. Even though he was trying to refrain from panicking, it still couldn't stop the thoughts from bombarding his mind.

" _I wonder if it's just something with me… if I am just… just faulty or something."_

At the mere thought of thinking 'fault' he shot up to a sitting position. "No! Stop it! Don't think that!" He yelled at himself while lightly hitting the sides of his head. "Stop thinking that… I'm done thinking about that. I… I'm not faulty."

There was a small hitch in his breathing. Something was trying to break in him, wanting to cause him more pain. He shook his head at it though, trying to bury it away so it would never come out to harm him. The last thing he wanted to do was keep dwelling on his past over and over.

He knew that he had a lot to work on and a lot to go through in his new life. He knew deep down that there was still going to be struggles. He still had not forgotten what happened the other day with meeting Selphie, Tidus and Wakka. That still lingered heavily in his mind on how it went and what kind of impression he had left on them.

"Why is this so hard…?" Ryuu muttered quietly to himself before wrapping his arms around himself. "I didn't think having my own life would mean this… this much pain. There was already enough pain before when I was fixated on being fake… now there's this…"

The more he thought the deeper he wondered. Never had he had such serious thoughts before over the matter on his memories and his life. Even now days after coming back, he still couldn't believe he had actually done it. He had been so certain at first he would fade away and leave everything behind, knowing at least Naminé would have a chance at life. In the end all he wanted was to make sure she could live and be happy.

But then Riku convinced him to come back. He came back and actually got to see Naminé who was just as joyous to see him as he was seeing her. Now he was living a life he never expected to happen and he actually had to deal with each and every emotion that came with it.

Constantly he switched back and forth over his thoughts. Mainly he was glad to actually be there, he was glad that he could actually be with Naminé and talk to her. They could finally have time to spend with one another that wasn't forced by anyone else or dealt with fake memories. From now on they could make things their own.

But then there was the other side that still reminded him about those fake memories. He knew that it couldn't just go away at this point. He couldn't just forget about it and move on, but he still was not wanting to just remove them.

Naminé had offered, but he had refused. Removing those memories was the last thing he ever wanted. Not only because he would have to have to restart, even if he wouldn't know it, and then he feared that he would no longer have any feelings for Naminé. That was what probably scared him the most.

He had come to terms that his fake memories did create the feelings for Naminé, he knew that much was obviously. But it was his own choice to act on them that made them stronger and truer and now were his own real choices and feelings.

Ryuu groaned before he crashed back down onto the couch. All of this swirled around his brain twisted and crashing into one another. It didn't make it very easy to think lightly on it and now a small headache had started to form. No matter what he did he could not just got a proper or straight coherent thought on the matter.

The sound of the front door unlock was actually enough to bring a stop to his thoughts for the time being. He stood up and headed toward the front, figuring it was Riku who had come back from his talk with Kairi.

It was Riku in fact, but there was someone else with him htat Ryuu had not expected to see. Naminé followed behind Riku and her expression lit up as soon as her eyes met with Ryuu's. On the other hand Ryuu just stared, his thoughts running up again faster than before. " _What kind of timing is this? Couldn't have been at the worst time… or maybe it's something good? If I can actually talk to her about it, maybe I can get it off my chest."_

"Ryuu, how are you doing today?" Naminé asked as she approached him.

"O-Oh, I'm fine, just doing things around the house and stuff," Ryuu replied quickly. He then glanced over to Riku. "So how did your talk with Kairi go?"

"It went fine… we're still trying to figure out a plan for finding Sora, but everyone is wanting to help out. I'm sure we can get something started soon enough. But hey," Riku flashed a smile. "I'll talk to you later about it, you two have fun."

Ryuu scrunched up his nose at Riku, but refrained from saying anything. As much as he wanted to argue with Riku for trying to tease him, he wasn't ready to be embarrassed any further while in front of Naminé. Though he could already hear her light giggles, but that… that was something that lightened the mood for him.

"So," Ryuu said, focusing his attention on Naminé as Riku left the room. "Is there anything that you know… you wanna do?" Despite everything, he still found himself growing more and more nervous around Naminé. He wasn't sure what to make of it though. He couldn't tell if it was good or bad and he was totally not going to ask Riku about this. He was sure he would only be teased further if he did tell him.

"Whatever is good with you. I just wanted to come and see you. Since we don't have gummi phones yet I couldn't really just call. And I thought it would be weird to ask Kairi to call Riku to try and talk to you."

It was true that the two of them did not have gummi phones yet, but they heard that Chip and Dale were working on creating more. That way everyone would have their very own soon enough. But for the time being there just was that gap in communication for them.

"I did want to try and talk to you sooner, but I thought I would let you have some time to yourself to adjust."

"I'm doing as best as I can," Ryuu said.

The two of them slowly started to walk from the front door back to where Ryuu had been sitting before. The two of them sat down next to each other before Ryuu continued. "I've just been trying to get through it all as best as I can. But what about you?"

While Ryuu knew he had his own set of problems, he always kept wondering about Naminé. She was a unique Nobody, but had suffered through the hands of the Organization and then DiZ. She had been through so much more than he could have and he honestly had no idea how much it wore on her mind. She did have similar thoughts like him? Wondering if she should have come back or not? Ryuu wasn't actually sure, but no matter the answer he was determined to be there to comfort her if she need.

"I've been doing all right. As you know I'm staying with Kairi like how you are staying with Riku. Initially Roxas had offered for me to join him in Twilight Town with Xion, Axel, and Isa, but I feel more at home here. Getting to actually be by the ocean and see it everyday is more than I ever could have imagined."

"Me too," Ryuu agreed. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Especially that you're here too."

Naminé smiled gently. Her hand reached out and her fingers laced with Ryuu's, causing a warm swelling feeling to enter his heart. Though right away the cruel and annoying fears and doubts decided to replace it instead.

"Ryuu? Are you okay?" Naminé asked when Ryuu turned his head away from her abruptly.

"Nothing… I mean it is something, but just a lot of things are still on my mind…"

Naminé hummed lightly before scooting a little closer to Ryuu. "Would you like to talk about it?"

"Maybe… I don't know how much it can help though."

"Well, let's try, okay?"

Ryuu breathed in. If he was really doing this, he was going to have to be strong about it. Having to admit what he feared most to who he cared about most was going to be hard. But he was going to have to try… he would try and do anything for her. For Naminé.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first half of this was inspired by the Riku Replica character story that was released in the characters book that came out recently. It just gave me the inspiration that I need to get back into this.   
> Anyways I shall keep working on this as well as my other stories, but I will see you next time!


	7. Chapter 7

Ryuu kept on breathing deeply as he tried to figure out what he was going to say. Naminé stayed by his side quietly, waiting calmly. She was always so good at that now, being calm and waiting for him. She knew that he was probably struggling more than he was letting on, but she still didn't push him too hard. That was something that he did love about her, that she had the most patience out of everyone he knew, even if that number was small it still counted.

"Well to begin somewhere… it's about you, I mean us. Just something about the both of us."

"And what's the issue?" Naminé asked softly.

"I…" Ryuu started. "I don't even know where to begin." His voice started to tremble as he tried keeping himself together. But it was all falling apart far too soon for his liking. The emotions were smashing against him, and it was breaking him as if he was glass.

"I-I'm sorry," he whispered as the floodgates opened and the tears spilled out.

He could feel Naminé wrapping her arms around him, holding him as tight as she could. "Ryuu, please speak to me. It hurts me to see you like this."

"I f-forgot…"

"Forget? What did you forget?"

Ryuu shuddered as he drew closer to his answer. The more he started thinking about it, topped with Naminé being right next to him made him all the more nervous. He could have sworn the room was starting to spin, but Naminé gave him another gentle squeeze and the world fell back into place. He just wasn't sure how long it was going to last now.

"You…" he whispered softly.

"What? What did you say?" Naminé asked, sounding a little confused.

"I forgot you… N-Not right now, but like before… before you and I were saved. I'm sorry… I'm just broken."

Naminé pursed her lips. She wrapped her arms around Ryuu and hugged him. "You can't fault yourself for that."

"Yes I can! Cause I'm broken! I'm a worthless broken replica with fake memories trying to be real!" Ryuu snapped as the tears broke and streamed down his eyes.

He knew he didn't want to go to such measures, as he had tried to reassure himself beforehand, but all of it was just too much. Everything he has tried to move past wasn't really passed up, he had just been pressing down on it, trying to forget about it. No matter how much he had thought not to fixte or even bottle it up, somehow subconsciously he had been doing just that. Now all of that pain and struggling was coming back to bite him.

"Ryuu…" Naminé whispered, her voice sounding worried. "You know that you are more than those things. You are no longer what you were created for. Just like me, Roxas, and Xion. We've all become our own persons, no longer needing to look back on where we started from."

"But I can't… I'm just…" Ryuu swallowed as he blinked away the tears in his eyes. "I just don't know if I can really do this anymore. I know I should try and I gotta get over it, but the m-memories still haunt me. Everything I think that was, never really happened."

"There isn't just a 'get over it' for things like this. But you remember that you developed your own heart. You proved yourself to be special. That's what I love most about you. Neither of us have a past…"

Naminé sighed, seemingly trying to find her words. "I just want to be happy in this life, and I want you to be happy too. But I'm the one who caused you all this pain…"

Ryuu stared, his eyes widening. He knew that they had briefly talked about it before, but Naminé never said anything specific about it. Though Ryuu had reflected on that aspect he never wanted to directly say anything to her about it. Not in the way that she caused it at least. Bringing it up already probably was pretty upsetting so having to point out that she was the one who did it wouldn't have helped.

"Naminé! Please I don't blame you. I've never blamed you for this!" Turning to face her he grabbed her hands and held them close to his chest. "Don't think that any of this is your fault! It wasn't anything we could do back then! I know I complained about it before and a bit right now, but don't ever want you to think I hate you for it!"

With a deep breath he closed his eyes, trying his hardest to calm himself down. "I know it's been only a couple weeks at this point… maybe I've just been thinking too hard. But please… please don't blame yourself."

At first Naminé was looking at him with her own wide confused eyes, but slowly the expression started to change. A warm and kind smile flooded her face and she pulled her hands back so she could hug him. "Thank you, Ryuu."

With her warm embrace, Ryuu returned with his own hug. "We still got plenty of time to figure all this out, right?"

"Of course!" Naminé replied cheerfully. "But it's okay if we have a bad day here and there. You can always tell me, I'll be ready to listen."

Sighing happily, Ryuu rested his head against Naminé's shoulder. "Yeah, you're right. Oh hey, if we can talk about something else, there is another thing I had on my mind. Much better than what I had before."

Naminé pulled back from the hug, still smiling. "Oh? And what would that be?"

Ryuu pointed to the CDs on the table. "I was trying to find some good music that I could pick as my favorite genre. Would you uh… wanna listen to some of them with me?"

"I love to."

After that Ryuu set up one of the CDs to start and the two sat next to each other on the couch again. They stayed close together the entire time as they listened and discussed each other on the CD. Overall it was a rather nice talk and in the end it really did help distract Ryuu from the thoughts that had been plaguing him earlier. When he was with Naminé just doing fun things he could forget about the rest of it. All he needed was a little precious time with the girl he cherished most.

* * *

By the time they had gone through a few CDs it had grown dark outside. The time really had passed faster than either of them could have expected. In the end though Ryuu enjoyed every moment that they had, even if it was all spent just listening and talking about music. It really did help put some things into perspective from it because Naminé also had been looking to discover what music called to her.

Though Naminé still liked some classy jazz music like Kairi did, she had started to really enjoy more classical pieces. NIce piano sonatas and other things like it. Since there was such a large and wide variety of classical pieces, it was even harder to choose a specific type. But she had gotten far enough to know she liked the general basis of the genre.

Ryuu enjoyed the classical stuff as well, but he still had yet to find something that truly resonated with him. There were still many more CDs and many more genres to go to, but since it was growing late and time for dinner they decided to call it a night.

"I could come over again soon," Naminé said as she headed towards the door. "I really enjoyed today, it was peaceful."

"Yeah, me too, and I'd like that. Please Naminé, you can come by any time."

Naminé smiled before reaching forward to hug Ryuu one last time. "Remember I love you just the way you are," she whispered. "You're unique, you got that?"

"You too," Ryuu whispered back. "Thanks again for everything."

When they parted Naminé waved as she headed off. Ryuu watched her walk away until she was out of sight. He sighed happily as he leaned against the doorway. The sky was mostly all dark, but on the horizon like he could still see a little bit of residual light. It was a rather pretty sight to see and for a moment Ryuu focused on only that, watching the last of the light set and fade away.

"Hey," Riku's voice came from behind. "You lost in a daze or something? Come inside before you get cold."

"No! I'm just um… I was-"

"You were dreaming about seeing Naminé again, yeah I know," Riku replied teasingly. "That's nothing new."

Ryuu pouted. "Hey! Cut it out already!"

"Nah, I got many more teases to use. Besides it's fun," Riku chuckled, moving closer to Ryuu. He went to try and ruffle Ryuu's hair but he was swatted away by him.

"Quit it!" Ryuu frowned.

"But it's nice to see you so happy. So I'm glad that you are happy and found some peace now," Riku replied. He was smiling again and this time he could see how sad he really looked. The smile was genuine but he was holding it up in front of whatever was paining him.

"Hey so um, did things really go okay today?" Ryuu asked as he closed the front door.

Riku's eyes shifted. "I told you, it went fine."

"That's what you say, but you don't seem to be confident about it."

Riku swallowed. He moved and made his way over to the couch. He closed his eyes for the moment, looking deeply concerned. "It's just about what Kairi and I planned to do. Well… mainly her."

"And what's that?" Ryuu asked as he made his way over to him.

"She's planning to go to Radiant Garden and let Ansem the Wise and the others study her memories. She thinks there is some key there."

"So? What's the big deal about that?"

"She'll have to sleep for it...and we don't know how long it could take…"

"Ah, so you're worried for her?" Ryuu asked as he sat down next to his brother.

Riku nodded his head. "Of course… I just wish there was more I could do."

Ryuu could understand. Even if he hadn't been directly friends with Sora, he still had some connection to him. Mostly yes, it was because of the fake memories, but he knew Sora was a friendly guy either way. Ryuu was sure once they got Sora back he would be more than thrilled to see that Riku had a little brother now.

"Well, I'm sure there is more right? You aren't going to sit around all day are you?"

"No, I just didn't realize that this task is going to be so much larger than it already was," Riku admitted, sighing deeply.

"Hey come on… I know you can handle it. You just need to have a little more faith in yourself and you'll pull through.

Riku started to smile, this time much more honestly. "What happened to you saying I was corning and that you didn't think I could figure anything out?"

Ryuu shrugged. "Hey, a brother has to brother some of the time, and right now feels like a good time. I spent the entire evening with Naminé and we had talked through some heavy stuff. She helped me, so I'm ready to try and help out others."

"Well, thanks Ryuu, it means a lot." Riku sighed as he ran a hand over his face. "Maybe I just need to sleep on the matter and figure out tomorrow what to do next."

"Yeah, and if you want, I can try and help, okay?"

"Sure thing." Riku replied.

With that their parents came home from work shortly and they prepared for dinner. The rest of the night seemed to go fairly smoothly as Ryuu kept on trying to focus his mind. He wanted to improve and he knew what he talked about with Naminé helped. She would always love him for who he was, so he didn't really need to change at the end of the day. Sure he still wanted to get over the worries and the self consciousness he felt about those old memories, but it would all come within time. For now he had to just try his best to keep going with life and work towards new goals, one of which did include helping find Sora. Only time would tell what would happen next, no one knew just what they would face, but Ryuu was going to keep trying. He wouldn't give up hope, not when he had people who cared for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally I did it! I got another chapter!! So sorry for the wait but there was a big writers block on this but I think I pulled it through.


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